


get up.

by Catory



Series: new game (-1) [2]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, slight endgame spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-25 05:33:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12524124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catory/pseuds/Catory
Summary: suzui shiho is the nicest person at this entire shitty school, akira thinks.so maybe, just maybe...if there's anyone here at all he should trust with the truth of what happened to ryuji...





	get up.

The first week of school isn't as bad as Akira was expecting.

It's _worse._

There were already rumors about him around campus. He doesn't know who spread them.

Doesn't matter who spread the rumors, because when Akira returns to school, all the rumors are talking about, is—

"—covered in blood."

"I bet he did it."

"I bet he killed him."

"The transfer student murdered Ryuji Sakamoto."

"Really?! He doesn't look like he could… you know…"

"He's not a killer, the principal wouldn't allow a murderer in school. But he won't say anything—"

"— last time anyone saw that Sakamoto kid was the day that the transfer arrived."

"Have you seen his eyes? Empty like a shark."

"You could hear the screams from the school courtyard."

" _They say he staggered out of an alleyway, covered in blood._ "

It's been a week.

Nobody will talk to Akira. Nobody will look at Akira. Some nights he thinks that maybe he did die in that dungeon, and he's just a ghost right now.

Ms. Chouno drones on at the front of the room.

Akira picks at his hands again. In his mind's eye, he can still see the blood all over his hands, like the red of his gloves.

They're not wrong. The reason that Sakamoto (his first name was Ryuji) is dead is because of Akira. But he can't tell anyone. Someone has to live with the knowledge of what happened, his ass. He's just a coward. Every time he even thinks of telling someone the truth—

Well.

Who the hell can Akira even trust with that, anyways?

* * *

They'd let him go back to school, just two days after…

After.

The police had let him go. Couldn't prove a murder with no body. Couldn't prove any wrongdoing at all this time, besides truancy. (And there had been nobody to push for a harsher sentence. Not this time.)

The prosecutor lady had taken one look at him sitting shellshocked in the interrogation room and had told someone to get him a damn shower, and a clean set of clothes while they were at it. She'd been kinda brusque, but not mean.

She said they'd probably call him back for more questioning later. When the police had more to work with. (But there was no crime scene except Akira. All the evidence amounted to was the blood that Akira was covered in, and the fact that two people had gone into the alley and only one had come out.)

Akira had been grateful to the prosecutor. The blood had started to flake, and it had been itchy. Akira picks at his hands as he remembers the feel of it on his skin. Still itchy. He should go to the bath house again tonight. He's been going every night. Should probably get a job at this rate. (Can't get it off his skin. Still smells copper.)

Sakura-san had been really mad. He'd yelled, but Akira hadn't really been listening to the words. Couldn't concentrate on his words, when they just kept slipping away like smoke on the wind. Maybe Sakura-san had figured that out after a while, or something, because the yelling stopped. He'd driven back to the café in silence. He hadn't said anything when they got to the café, or when he went to the kitchen, or when he'd started heating something up in the saucepan.

He'd placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of Akira, and he finally spoke up again.

"…I'll close up tonight."

Sakura-san left soon after, without saying goodnight.

Akira curled his hands around the hot mug. Too hot to drink. But the heat was comforting.

* * *

Monday is when things start to change.

Monday is the day Akira meets Shiho Suzui.

"I don't think you killed anyone." Tired but kind eyes, under black bangs. Shiho smiles at Akira. He tries to smile back at her. It feels odd on his face.

She invites him over to a crepe place after school. Volleyball practice was cancelled, so she has the time. Akira isn't in any clubs, so he has the time.

Shiho points at a strawberry and chocolate one on the menu and says, "My best friend always recommends that one. You should get it!"

Shiho gets something with matcha for herself, and Akira obediently gets the strawberry and chocolate crepe. He takes a bite. It's good. Shiho laughs at the surprised expression on his face.

The longer Shiho hangs out with Akira outside of Shujin, the more vibrant she becomes. She laughs like rays of sun and Akira can't help but relax around her. Every he smiles back at her, it gets more natural, like he's remembering how he used to do it back when everything made sense. She's the nicest person he's ever met and something makes him think that—that it'll be okay. If he tells Shiho.

It's okay to tell Shiho.

And the more Akira thinks about it, the more the truth buzzes under his skin like it wants to be heard. If he doesn't tell anyone, it might eat Akira alive from the inside out.

If there's one person who will listen, Shiho will. He knows this in his bones.

They're sitting in an alcove off the courtyard when Akira speaks up. His voice is still slightly rusty with disuse. "Suzui-san?"

"Eh? No need to so formal, Shiho is fine. What's up?"

"I lied to the police."

Shiho goes still, and Akira licks his lips and continues. Truth doesn't come easy from him, but once he starts he can't stop. "I _do_ remember how Sakamoto died. They won't believe me if I tell. They'll say I did it. I— I have proof. I can show you where it happened, it didn't happen here, there was a castle and Kamoshida was there, and—"

Shiho interrupts. "Kamoshida? You saw him that day?"

Akira nods.

Shiho lays her bandaged hands over Akira's. "I think…" She says, slowly and carefully. "You need to show me _exactly_ what you're talking about."

* * *

The castle looms above just like it does in Akira's nightmares. He'd come back here the day after he'd been released. It had taken him a solid hour just to figure out that the strange app on his phone was important, and after all that trouble… he couldn't even bear to step through the front door. He'd just stood there in his coat and mask and red gloves and… stared. It was real, he'd thought.

It had all been real.

He'd tried to forget about it, until now.

Suzu— Shiho's hand is in an iron grip on his wrist.

"Akira," she whispers in shock and horror. "What the _fuck_ is this?!"

"I told you. It's a castle."

"And… it belongs to Kamoshida? This… is what he thinks of the school?"

Akira nods.

"I want to see him for myself."

Akira whips his head around in shock. "What? No! No, we can't go in there, we'll get caught. And— and we'll die—"

"We'll stay hidden. We won't just walk in through the front door, and we'll keep an eye out for guards. It'll be fine."

"Shiho, this is a bad idea."

She doesn't listen. There's something wild and furious behind her eyes that makes Akira draw back a little bit.

Against his better judgement, he tells her, "Okay. I'll go with you."

At least this time, Akira thinks, he has a way to fight back. He has Arsene. It'll be enough to protect the both of them, this time.

* * *

Akira needs to stand back up.

" **My, my. What do we have here? Has a pesky rat come scurrying back into my castle?** "

He needs to stand back up.

" **And what's this? He's brought a _guest_ with him?** "

Akira ignores the pain shooting sparks across his torso and forces himself _up._

Kamoshida stands there. Someone standing behind him that he kinda sorta recognizes. It's that girl who'd gotten into Kamoshida's car that first day. Why's she wearing a purple bikini? Akira's vision is blurry. Can't see very well.

But it's definitely Kamoshida standing there. He recognizes the voice.

Fear rises.

Akira doesn't want Shiho to die too. She's yelling in the background. Funny, she doesn't actually sound hurt, just angry.

"—son of a bitch! Lay a hand on Ann and I'll tear your shit-spewing throat out!"

Kamoshida laughs, and says something but it's drowned out by Shiho's scream. Adrenaline spikes through Akira, and he scrambles back up to his feet—

Shiho falls to her knees, and clutches her face. The sound she makes reverberates, louder and louder, and sends a shiver down Akira's spine. (Rings in his ears like church bells.) Tension rises like the air when lightning is going to strike, and blue light flickers up around her. As she screams and screams and screams out in furious triumph, a figure of whirling sand and fire rises behind her. In one hand it holds a warhammer; in the other, a shortsword in a reverse grip.

Shiho gets up, slowly. She's not wearing her uniform anymore.

There's something absolutely wild and **angry** in her eyes, and Akira feels his heart beat faster in anticipation.

"Rise up, _Jael!_ "

* * *

Brick of the alleyway behind Akira's back. Not the same one that he’d gone down with Sakamoto— that one’s cordoned off by the police— but just somewhere close by and semi-private.  He sinks down against the rough wall, because his legs are refusing to hold any weight.

They're alive.

Shiho's alive, and Akira's alive, and Shiho's got the same kinda thing that Akira's got. The same kind of power.

"Holy shit." Shiho's breathing hard like she just ran a marathon, her hands on her knees. Akira can relate. "What the hell was that?"

Akira makes a strangled-sounding 'you tell me' noise.

Shiho laughs. And the sound of her laughter makes Akira laugh too, until they’re just two dumbasses cracking up in a shity, tiny alleyway on the way home from school.

Shiho wipes away a tear from her eye with a chuckle. “Oh my God, I can’t believe we’re, like, magical girls. I always wanted to be a magical warrior of truth and… justice.”

Her smile fades.

“So that’s how it happened, huh. Kamoshida… killed Ryuji.”

Akira looks away. “Yeah. One of the guards put a sword right through his throat. And I… I couldn’t—”

“Hey.” Shiho’s voice is firm and stern. “Stop that. If there’s anyone to blame for what happened, it’s Kamoshida, not you.”

Shiho balls her hands up into fists. "Kamoshida... is going to pay through the nose for everything he's done. Me, and Ann, and… Ryuji, too. He's going to pay. Maybe… there’s nothing we can do in this world. But over there, wherever that is, we’re strong. I think if we keep going through the castle, we might be able to find a— a weak point or something. Something to use against him. You with me?"

Akira meets Shiho's eyes. _Yes._

* * *

That night, Akira falls asleep easily for the first time in a week, so of course he wakes up on a bed that's not the one in the attic.

"You're finally awake." An old man with a creaky old man voice smiles at him, benignly. Behind him stands a young girl, white hair held back with a butterfly headband.

"Welcome, honored guest. I see you've had an exciting week since we've last met."

**Author's Note:**

> From Wikipedia:  
> Deborah, a prophetess and judge, advises Barak to mobilize the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon on Mount Tabor to do battle against King Jabin of Canaan. Barak demurred, saying he would go, provided she would also. Deborah agreed but prophesied that the honour of defeating Jabin's army would then go to a woman. Jabin's army was led by Sisera (Judg. 4:2). The armies met on the plain of Esdraelon, where Sisera's iron-bound chariots became hampered by the mud caused by a downpour during the night that caused the Wadi Kishon to overflow its banks. The Canaanites were defeated and Sisera fled the scene.  
> Sisera arrived on foot at the tent of Heber the Kenite on the plain of Zaanaim. Heber's wife Jael welcomed Sisera into her tent and covered him with a blanket. As he was thirsty, she gave him a jug of milk. Exhausted, Sisera lay down and soon fell asleep. While he was sleeping, Jael took a mallet and drove a tent peg into his temple, killing him instantly. The "Song of Deborah" (Judg. 5:24-26) recounts:
> 
> "Extolled above women be Jael,  
> Extolled above women in the tent.  
> He asked for water, she gave him milk;  
> She brought him cream in a lordly dish.  
> She stretched forth her hand to the nail,  
> Her right hand to the workman's hammer,  
> And she smote Sisera; she crushed his head,  
> She crashed through and transfixed his temples."


End file.
